Some ideas for feats for firearm pistols

[nosaM]

Master assassin Level 8, Allows the player to silence any firearm pistol when crafting, and killing an enemy with a firearm pistol will reduce the cooldown of execute by one turn.

Expert gunslinger Level 26, further reduces the ap cost of firearm pistols by 3, and increases the critical damage bonus of firearm pistols by 50% and will also increase the lower damage range of firearm pistols by 25%.

[Shredded Cheddar]

As much as I love the idea of buffing firearm pistols, silencers suck because they nerf damage so hard, and the second feat is just too many stats rolled into one and acquired so late it's not really useful. Like my pistols are gonna get a massive boost at level 26 or 28? They need a powerful pistol exclusive feat around levels 12-18 like the other weapons, not something that comes when 3/5+ through the games content.

Also, master assassin is 1/2 crafting feat, does this require mechanics, int, dex, per, like what are the requirements for this feat?

[Shredded Cheddar]

Sorry, to add on to what I was saying before, silencers suck balls because they nerf damage so hard, and the only benefit is silence, while other mods like laser sight, XM, smart, RR (unless using steadfast aim?), literally just give straight buffs to the weapon. If anything, the silencer should give +3-5% precision because it is extending the barrels length, without any reduction in damage. Now THAT would make crafting pistols more interesting.

Also I think the silencer should be available on at least 7.62 pistols,  OR  should be available on all calibers but have lesser sound reduction on higher caliber weapons.

[nosaM]

Yeah I get what you mean, and I agree with you on what you said but it's just an idea. But firearm pistols need a buff because they are not worth using, when you could be using a chem/energy pistol.

[Shredded Cheddar]

I agree that firearm pistols need a buff, and I hope my constructive criticism will help you with further suggestions because I like the idea of your suggestions, just not the details

Personally, I think that pistols just need +25-30% crit damage across the board, as well as damage range tweaking, but with Styg mentioning he wants to change critical power I have no idea what will happen to crit based builds in the future, and pistols rely on crit probably the most out of any weapons, maybe tied with knives.

[dddmemaybe]

nosaM, When considering the buff, you have to take your idea of what a pistol-user is like(the literal imagery you can imagine is a good angle of perspective to start; for me it's often a cowboy like Dutch from RedDead 1/2.) and what a pistol-user both "needs" and "deserves" mechanically. If you give buffs just for buffing sake, all of the builds would have little differences and we'd have fallout 3(a game I love though). For example, thematically and classically the idea of a duel between gunslingers who would test their aim and speed in taking their trusty fire-arm out of their holster makes sense for the feat, Gunslinger(which also appropriately due to sense and balance reason!. gives -3 ap to pistols as well, in a world where str-3-ok smgs and crossbows exist it is a both fitting, niche-like and empowering for the inherently weaker weapon of pistols!)

If I would add something for pistols to be better, maybe a feat-line that branches off of Gunslinger not too-unlike the feat line branches of Aimed Shot(Like the "Snipe" feat) for other Guns weapons.

Maybe a feat based on the thought of a cowboy moving between terrain hip-firing like crazy could be incorporated into an improved version of "Point Shot" that needs Point Shot as a requirement to take, as well as like Guns 50. Here's a try by me:

"Point on the Line"
For every 5 movement points spent moving you can make an additional "Point Shot" with firearm pistols at 25% ap instead of 50%, at slightly more of an accuracy penalty compared to Point Shot.
Requirements: Point Shot, Guns 50.

Another option could be a feat that lets you dual wield smgs and pistols for x requirements(single weapon slot is how it would function; shoots both normally as such now) but has a stronger accuracy penalty for smgs than pistols for doing so, especially if they burst-fire the smgs. Here's a quick go at that idea, although I can't say the balance is perfect so quickly.:

"Dual Wielding"
You may wield and fire two Pistols and/or SMG's in as a single weapon slot to fire both as the same instances of ap expenditures. For weapons with different ap requirements, you fire the higher ap weapon if the lower weapon fired expends enough ap in equivalent to the expenditure of the other's natural cost. Dual Wielding lowers the individual weapon's accuracy depending on the ammo type, increased by 50% more for burst-firing. 5mm is 5%, 7.62mm is 10%, 8.66 is 15%, 9mm is 20% and .44 is 25%. Laser Pistols have 5% accuracy loss, Plasma have 25% and Chemical Pistols have 25%.
Requirements: Guns 70, Dexterity 8

[dddmemaybe]

I also thought of one more cool one(? self-proclaimed cool at least lol).

"Dead-Eye"

You may instantly spend up to 60 bonus AP on restrictively firearm pistol attacks with 10% bonus critical hit-chance. Costs 50 Psi.
Cooldown: 5 turns.

Requirements:
Guns 85(level "13", buddy)
Perception 7
Dexterity 7
Will 7
Temporal Manipulation 42

[Shredded Cheddar]

Creating a psi ability that only works with pistols just seems weird to me.

I think that if you want to make a powerful pistol feat it should have to do with dex, per, and guns, and nothing else. This suggestion basically makes all pistol builds required to be psi as well.

I find psi to be extremely overpowered, so I can't support a suggestion like that. IMO the problem with pistols still has to do with the base stats of pistols - they offer too low damage, crit chance, crit damage etc. for their AP cost, even with extremely high dex. I think this partially has to do with the fact that you need to pump two stats to make pistols effective opposed to one - per and dex, as opposed to every other weapon where you really only need one stat to make it effective. I still think that there is something wrong with pistol balancing on an item level moreso than a feat/character level.

[dddmemaybe]

You right about psionics needed for pistol build, it's a sideways solution. When I saw how Dead Eye would/could seem to work(a lot of shots in very small time), I thought it would be so cool to include Temporal Manipulation as they ""realistically"" per say, fit together(like seeing time stopped haha). I didn't mention it as to say pistols should become entirely psionic builds to be more effective, but rather spewed a fun idea I had that could be incorporated for flavor.

You're right about per/dex for pistols, but don't forget every weapon build's requirements first! For starters here, smg to an extent is per/dex too; heavier weapons require high str- Definitely don't forget that str requirement. Also Snipers are stealth(agility-eske) + movement + perception, Crossbows really benefit from Deadly Snares and are arguably definitely Per/Dex as well for the full-leaning, high value crossbow builds. Sledgehammers need high str and really benefit a lot from high con + heavy armor for full stat-synergy and tactical necessity(sitting ontop of enemies? better not die instantly man!).
    Pistols being dual-stat required isn't directly a problem. It's that pistols aren't damage-to-ap efficient, comparatively to other attack strategies. But pistols(irl; peering at the accuracy, or objective look) are weak weapons, an assault rifle is used in military for standard combat use because of it's advantages. The pistol user must have some advantage from skill or it just doesn't fit right imo.

Pistols compared to Smgs, pistols have way more ap-cost than base-smg attacks but also do more damage(which honestly makes sense but makes pistols feel even weaker, even whilst smgs are also weak like pistols though- as they are hurt more by flat-reductions immensely, off-topically?).

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I still do think feats are the right direction for pistol builds to make them "a self-complete build" as otherwise they would be too essential back-up weapons for all gun builds(even though that would be thematically perfect and ok too?).

In my opinion, an alright start for pistol users is a feat that makes Pistols get increased critical chance based off of your dexterity just like melee weapons do, in addition to the already included light-melee and ranged weapon's ap reductions from dexterity.

Another feat could be added I give would be one that builds off of and requires Gunslinger could add some bonus(maybe just +15% flat universal) accuracy for firearm pistols, separating the build from Smgs which are usually close-range, burst-fire. They would then have very accurate, trusty but steady and slow damage. I know this is just a numerical upgrade but it doesn't feel out of place.

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I also feel that Steadfast Aim is very underwhelming. First off you need str 5 on a build that would be assumed to not take much benefit from being above the 3 minimum..(that's what pistols are like, no big requirement right? Not even Plasma Pistol nor Chemical Pistols needs a Strength score). A single extra ap-cost on a weapon is pretty large and significant in Underrail. This feat here then gives HALF a crit chance per ap above 10, which is basically nothing. At 20 ap(most expensive AR shot base is only 16 ap during single-fire...) you have +5% crit. This feat wouldn't be too strong even if it was just giving a flat +5% crit for firearm pistols (ignoring the alright position of chemical-pistols at least for damage potential, energy pistols can scale off of Int too). If this feat was for firearm pistols only, it wouldn't even be insanely broken to give +10% crit per ap above 10. Critting on a pistol shot for a .44 hammerer is nice, but it still isn't as good as just shooting 3 times(not even bursting) with an AR, if considering just damage in a vacuum. The fact that the AR can burst for 7 shots- or maybe 2 bursts for 14 just blows any pistol out of the water, but for higher requirements, of course.
A better course for Steadfast Aim imo, is to just make Aimed Shot available for firearm Pistols once every round, which then still benefits more heavily to the heavier pistols, just like the feat already does.

[Shredded Cheddar]

lmao my AR build gets off 4 bursts at 9 shots each... just saying...

[Firozo]

Here are my suggestions for buff firearms pistols.

1) Belt with bonus to firearms pistols:
Your successful firearm pistol attacks increase the taken chances critical hit by x%. (for standart version)
Increases critical damage bonus of your firearms pistols attacks by x%.  (for advanced version)

2) Buff/repair curent feats
Steadfast Aim: add ignore x% targets evasion .
New feat that requirements steadfast aim: Reduce strength requirements for metal armor by 3 and adds your armor penalty to precision, but no more than x%.
Rapid Fire: reduce cd by 1 turn.
Shooting Spree: add ability to activate for firearms pistols.

3) I believe that it is necessary to increase spawn JHP/W2C rounds from traders.